The theme for the second round of the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition is ‘Urban Abstracts’. It’s all about the shapes and patterns in towns and cities, those interesting details or unusual juxtapositions that often get missed in the bustle of urban life. You can go in close or take a wider view, it’s up to you.
This second round of our monthly competition is open for submissions until 18:00 GMT (19:00 CET and 10:00 PST) on 28th February.
To submit your entry visit cjpoty.com. You can submit one image per entry but make up to three entries for £2.00 plus payment processing costs (£0.26).
Urban Abstracts inspiration
One of the great things about Urban Abstracts as a subject is that they’re so readily available. If you’re lucky, you can pop into the nearest town or city and spend the day shooting, but if you’re pressed for time, you can fit it around work, taking photographs in your lunch break or during your commute.
It can take a few minutes to tune into all the creative opportunities around you in an urban environment, it’s almost a sensory overload. However, once you’ve taken your first few shots, you’ll be on a roll.
If you’re in need of some inspiration, take a look at this interview with freelance architectural photographer Jo Underhill. Jo Underhill‘s work has been widely published and she loves to focus on light, material and detail.
MPB, our competition sponsor, also has this beginners guide to architectural photography with great tips from Ian Howorth.
Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year prizes
At the end of the month, the Camera Jabber team will pick one winning image and nine runners up from the February entries. The photographer of the winning image will receive a voucher from MPB.com to the value of £500 which can be spent on anything from a huge range of kit from the World’s biggest platform for used photographic gear.
All 10 of the selected images will go into our shortlist for the year.
We’ll do this each month in 2022 so that by the end of the year, there will be 120 shortlisted images. These will then go before our fantastic panel of judges who will decide the 1st, 2nd and 3rd-placed images.
The photographer of the first-placed image overall, as decided by the panel of judges, will received a voucher to the value of £1000 from MPB.com as well as a trophy and the title ‘Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year 2023‘. The photographers who come second and third will receive vouchers worth £500 and £250 respectively.
The judges are:
Ben Brain – Photographer, journalist & Sigma ambassador
Sophie Collins – Chief Marketing Office at MPB
Kate Hopewell-Smith – Wedding, portrait & boudoir photographer, Sony ambassador
Sanjay Jogia – Wedding photographer & Canon ambassador
Pete Reed OBE – Three times Olympic gold medal-winning rower and keen documentary photographer
Craig Strong – Lensbaby founder and photographer
Jeremy Walker – Landscape photographer, author & former Nikon ambassador
You don’t have to enter the competition every month, but you are welcome to do so and the more shortlisted images you have at the end of the year, the greater than chance of winning the top prize.
About MPB
Founded by Matt Barker in 2011, MPB is the world’s largest platform for used photography and videography kit. MPB has transformed the way people buy, sell and trade equipment, making photography more accessible, affordable and sustainable.
Headquartered in the creative communities of Brighton, Brooklyn and Berlin, the MPB team includes trained camera experts and seasoned photographers and videographers who bring their passion to work every day to deliver outstanding service. Every piece of kit is inspected carefully by product specialists and comes with a six-month warranty to give customers peace of mind that buying used doesn’t mean sacrificing reliability.